''It's the Searchers'' is the third studio album by English rock band

The Searchers ''The Searchers'' is a 1956 American Technicolor VistaVision epic Western film directed by John Ford and written by Frank S. Nugent, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May. It is set during the Texas-Native American wars, and stars John Wa ...

. Album features the band's famous hit singles " Needles and Pins" and "

Don't Throw Your Love Away "Don't Throw Your Love Away" is a song written by Billy Jackson and Jimmy Wisner that was originally released in 1963 by The Orlons. It was the B-side to "Bon-Doo-Wah", which peaked at #55 in the US charts. Cover Versions *The Searchers releas ...

" as well as cover versions of some well known tracks originally recorded by

Betty Everett Betty Jean Everett (November 23, 1939 – August 19, 2001) was an American soul singer and pianist, best known for her biggest hit single, the million-selling " Shoop Shoop Song (It's In His Kiss)", and her duet " Let It Be Me" with Jerry Butler ...

(" It's In Her Kiss"),

Carl Perkins Carl Lee Perkins (April 9, 1932 – January 19, 1998)#nytimesobit, Pareles. was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rockabilly great and pioneer of rock and roll, he began his recording career at the Sun Studio, in Memphis, Tennes ...

Glad All Over "Glad All Over" is a song written by Dave Clark and Mike Smith and recorded by The Dave Clark Five. Overview "Glad All Over" featured Smith leading unison group vocals, often in call and response style, a saxophone line used not for solo decor ...

"),

Don Gibson Donald Eugene Gibson (April 3, 1928 – November 17, 2003) was an American songwriter and country musician. A Country Music Hall of Fame inductee, Gibson wrote such country standards as " Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Stop Loving You", and enjoy ...

Sea of Heartbreak "Sea of Heartbreak" is a song written by Paul Hampton and Hal David and recorded by Don Gibson in 1961. The song reached #2 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Content The song describes the feelings of lost love, and compares ...

"),

The Drifters The Drifters are several American doo-wop and R&B/Soul music, soul vocal groups. They were originally formed as a backing group for Clyde McPhatter, formerly the lead tenor of Billy Ward and his Dominoes in 1953. The second group of Drifters, f ...

I Count the Tears "I Count the Tears" is a song written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and performed by The Drifters, with Ben E. King singing lead. In 1960, the track reached No. 6 on the U.S. R&B chart, No. 17 on the U.S. pop chart, and No. 28 on the UK Singles C ...

") or Tommy Tucker ("

Hi-Heel Sneakers "Hi-Heel Sneakers" (often also spelled "High Heel Sneakers") is a blues song written and recorded by Tommy Tucker in 1963. Blues writer Mary Katherine Aldin describes it as an uptempo twelve-bar blues, with "a spare, lilting musical framework", ...

"). It was also the last Searchers album to feature singer Tony Jackson. The album peaked at No. 4 in the UK album chart.

Overview and recording

The tension in the Searchers began before the recording sessions. Things got worse between

Chris Curtis Chris Curtis (born Christopher Crummey; 26 August 1941 – 28 February 2005) was an English drummer and singer who was best known for being with the 1960s Beat music, beat band The Searchers (band), The Searchers. He originated the concept be ...

and Tony Jackson. Curtis became the leader of the band and in fact, he did not like Jackson's style or himself at all. “I didn’t like Tony Jackson much, even from the start, and if I’d had the nous to audition for the Searchers, I would have had someone else in the first place,” said Curtis to Spencer Leigh in 1997. So, Tony lost the position of the band’s lead singer. Chris Curtis would tell him his vocals were not needed and he was to play bass his (i.e. Chris's) way. Their egos grew bigger and as the new lead singer

Mike Pender Michael John Prendergast (born 3 March 1941), known professionally as Mike Pender, is an English singer and guitarist. He was an original founding member of Merseybeat group the Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit s ...

wrote in his autobiography: “Internal tensions within the band worsened when certain people neglected to tell Tony about recording sessions and policy discussions.” Finally, Jackson sang lead vocal on one song only, "Sho' Know A Lot About Love " (and even there he shared his vocal with Mike Pender). Although it was probably not the intention of the authors, a later re-issue of the album (1968) featured an updated band photo on the cover with new bass player Frank Allen (even though he didn’t perform on any song on the album). During the album sessions, the band also recorded two unreleased tracks. The first was "

I (Who Have Nothing) "I (Who Have Nothing)" (sometimes billed as "I Who Have Nothing") is an English language cover of the Italian song "''Uno dei Tanti''" (English: "One of Many"), with music by Carlo Donida and lyrics by Giulio "Mogol" Rapetti. The initial version ...

", an English language cover of the Italian song performed by

Ben E. King Benjamin Earl King (né Nelson; September 28, 1938 – April 30, 2015) was an American soul and R&B singer and record producer. He is best known as the singer and co-composer of " Stand by Me"—a US Top 10 hit, both in 1961 and later i ...

in the US. The second was "Shame Shame Shame" written by American blues musician

Jimmy Reed Mathis James Reed (September 6, 1925 – August 29, 1976) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His particular style of electric blues was popular with blues as well as non-blues audiences. Reed's songs such as "Honest I Do" (1957), " ...

. Both songs were finally released in 1992 on The Searchers' 3CD box ''30th Anniversary Collection 1962–1992''. Journalist Alan Walsh ( Disc) claimed that he "goes to a Pye LP session and joins the boys" and sang backing vocals with them on the song "Sho' Know A Lot About Love".

Release

''It's the Searchers'' was the third Searchers' album released within 12 months (fourth, if we count the live German LP ''

Sweets for My Sweet "Sweets for My Sweet" is a song written by the songwriting team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman, originally recorded by American doo-wop and R&B/soul vocal group the Drifters. The Drifters version The group's first single featuring Charlie Thoma ...

)''. It came as a

monaural Monaural or monophonic sound reproduction (often shortened to mono) is sound intended to be heard as if it were emanating from one position. This contrasts with stereophonic sound or ''stereo'', which uses two separate audio channels to reproduc ...

(mono)

LP album The LP (from "long playing" or "long play") is an analog sound storage medium, a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use of the "microgroove" groove specification; and a ...

on the Pye label in the UK in April 1964, Pye NPL 18092. It entered the LP charts on May 30 went to No. 4 and stayed for 17 weeks. Early pressings of the album (and some international releases) had been made with title ''"It's Fab! It's Gear! It's the Searchers"'', the originally intended album title, but it was shortened later. The low-budget

Marble Arch Records Marble Arch Records was a subsidiary of Pye Records that released budget records from 1964 to around 1980. Compact discs were also released from the late 1980s to around 1994. Background Pye Records created this subsidiary label with in a type of ...

reissued the album in 1968 with the new cover art. This LP was released in mono (MAL 798) and for the first time also in stereo version (MALS 798). But the track list was shortened and four songs were omitted ("It's In Her Kiss", "Glad All Over", "This Empty Place" and "Gonna Send You Back To Georgia").

Track listing

US version (This Is Us)

The US version of ''It's The Searchers'' was retitled ''This Is Us'' (i. e. the headline on the back side of the UK LP cover) and given a different cover art (the photo of the Searchers was taken by photographer Alex Greco). It was released with a different track listing (included some older UK album tracks and B–sides, while deleting six songs: "Glad All Over", "Livin' Lovin' Wreck", "Shimmy Shimmy", "Needles And Pins", "Gonna Send You Back To Georgia" and "Sho' Know A Lot About Love"). It entered the LP charts on 29 August 1964 and peaked at No. 97 on

Billboard Top 200 The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artis ...

Love Potion No. 9

The song " Love Potion No. 9" (written by

Jerry Leiber Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such Crossover music, crossover hit songs ...

and

Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

) was chosen as an additional single from the album (with "Hi-Heel Sneakers" on the B-side). It became massively popular and reached No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on Cash Box during the winter of 1965. Lead singer Tony Jackson left the band at the time of the album's release and formed his own band, Tony Jackson And The Vibrations. He immediately recorded his own new version of the hit song, but it missed the charts.

US Track listing

Personnel

The Searchers *

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

* John McNally –

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

, lead and backing vocals * Tony Jackson –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, lead and backing vocals *

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, lead and backing vocals Additional musicians and production *

Tony Hatch Anthony Peter Hatch (born 30 June 1939) is an English composer for musical theatre and television. He is also a songwriter, pianist, arranger and producer. Early life and early career Hatch was born in Pinner, Middlesex. Encouraged by his mus ...

–

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

* Ray Prickett –

Recording engineer An audio engineer (also known as a sound engineer or recording engineer) helps to produce a recording or a live performance, balancing and adjusting sound sources using equalization, dynamics processing and audio effects, mixing, reproduction, ...

* Alan Walsh – backing vocals on "Sho' Know A Lot About Love"

References

{{Authority control Pye Records albums The Searchers (band) albums Albums produced by Tony Hatch 1964 albums